


Shell

by TheNobodyofaSOLDIER



Category: Chrono Trigger
Genre: Betrayal, Childhood Friends, Death, Despair, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 01:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30031257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNobodyofaSOLDIER/pseuds/TheNobodyofaSOLDIER
Summary: [Magus x Reader]Growing up in the Kingdom of Zeal, you always knew he was different...





	Shell

“Janus...”

As nothing more than a raspy cry, the word barely broke through the seal of your lips as you attempted to pull yourself from the cold, brick floor. Every nerve, down to the tips of your fingers, felt nothing but a cruel, stabbing pain undulating from the center of your chest. You clutched at the fabric now soiled with hot blood. Licking your cracked lips, you held your breath as you stumbled back to your feet, the heavy weight of your torso causing your legs to quiver.

The blue flames flicked almost in disgust as your cloak drug passed them while you staggered down the carpeted path, leading up to the ominous figure opening his powerful arms to the cataclysmic beast only known to the world as “Lavos.”

The chanting of the Mystics echoed about every wall of the castle, seeping through its windows like a menacing zephyr, like a premonition of this pathetic planet’s fate:

”Neuga, ziena, zieber, zom...”

”Now the chosen time has come...”

Shattered pieces of your memories floated in and out within the fragmented segments of your sanity you so desperately clung to: the young boy with the porcelain face yet dark eyes full of melancholy, his only companion, the little cat named Alfador gathered in his arms, the gentle voice of princess Schala, the vivid, colored walls of Zeal.

Ah, what you would have given to return to those times, before the Queen’s fruitless search for immortality through that dreaded terrestrial parasite...

Could anything have been done to change this out come? Schala’s and Janus’s disappearance? Queen Zeal’s madness? The separation of the Earthbound and Enlightened ones? The destruction of a once powerful kingdom? Even with the ability to swim through the river of time, only so much could be changed. You feared the worst for Schala and the Queen.

But, Janus, you held a little hope for. As you wandered round the abysmal brink of time, word of a powerful sorcerer titled Magus rippled along the waves of time. Revered as the Demon King or the Fiend Lord, the Mystics worshiped him as a god of destruction, and with this legion of followers, he tormented the Kingdom of Guardia, becoming an even greater force to be reckoned with.

Faded images of him and his actions flashed before you; his eyes were red as blood, skin grey as a stormy sky, and hair of cobalt blue, a distinguishing trait of the Enlightened Ones from all those years ago.

Could it have been...?

Janus was the only one of your kind forced away into another time, torn away from his beloved sister and home.

Yet, this fearsome master of the Mystics could not have been the boy you remembered...

However, nothing else made sense...

Mustering what little courage you possessed, what little hope you possessed, you decided to see for yourself in the year 600 A.D.

Sinking your teeth into your bottom lip, you halted before Magus as his eyes remained glued only to the monstrous, bronze statue before him. His long, steely locks and crimson cape floated in the wind as he uttered the words to his terrible summon. Your throat tightened, and your heart dropped.

Was he the final push towards the worlds destruction?

Did he become the Queen, the one person he hated more than anyone?

Suddenly, his words stopped, and his arms slowly lowered to his side. As the Mystics’ incantations finally faded into silence, only the moaning of the wind resonated within the temple.

After a sharp exhale, he spoke:

“I care little for such pointless interruptions.”

Before you could even gather any coherent thoughts together, you rambled,

“You don’t understand. I was sent to the end of time by Queen Zeal, and I-”

“I also care little,” with a flip of his cape, he pivoted towards you. “for the pathetic excuses of traitors.”

Traitor.

Such a acidic word pierced your heart.

“Please,” your begged. “Had I not lent my power to the Queen, she would have killed the only living relatives I have left.”

If his harsh remarks were not enough to lower you to the ground, the impaling gaze of his eyes sent tremors down your spine.

“What about Schala? She-!”

“Don’t even dare compare yourself to her,” he seethed as he approached you. “Unlike you, she was given no choice.”

Any attempts to run were futile. His strength and speed outnumbered your own ten fold. A powerful hand clutched your neck, and you were forced to your knees. Pieces and cartilage and bone cracked the tighter he squeezed. Though you gasped for air, nothing could pass through.

This was no longer the boy you knew.

All that remained was a shell, a container filled to the brim with hatred and anger.

As you gripped his wrist, tears rolled down your filthied face.

“J-Janus...”

Eyes narrowing into slits, he simply muttered,

“Janus...has long since passed.”

And in a moment, all turned black.


End file.
